In J&K, Sikh girl donates kidney to Muslim friend

In a noble gesture, a Jammu based Sikh girl has won hearts after she decided to donate one of her kidneys to a Muslim friend from Rajouri district of Jammu region.

A photograph of Manjot in a black dress and Samreena in white, PIc source: Facebook

A resident of Udhampur in Jammu, Manjot Singh Kohli, 23, is set to lose a kidney but has won a lot of hearts after she took a major decision of donating one of her kidneys to her 22-year-old Muslim friend Samreena Akhtar, 22, who is sufferings from the organ’s failure.

The news was circulated by the Srinagar’s SKIMS hospital where the two friends are waiting for the transplant surgery for the last seven months now. Earlier Samreen’s mother had decided to donate her kidney but she was declared unfit by the doctors due to some rare condition.

The family then went public with Samreen’s medical condition and posted it on Facebook for relatives and friends to see. But none of the relatives turned up. It was then Manjot who contacted the family and expressed her willingness to donate her kidney.

Manjot, a just graduated girl is currently a chairperson of Jammu-based NGO called Anti-corruption and Human Rights Council. Manjot’s gesture has earned her all-around praise on the social networking sites and social media users display all love for her.

In a video, which is now widely being shared on social media, Manjot said that her family is not happy with the broad decision, as her family fears that Manjot is taking too much of a risk with her own health. This has prompted the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Srinagar, where Samreen has been admitted, to delay the surgery.

“I’m not scared of anything. My only concern is that humanity should not lose out. My family has got swayed by emotion… but I shall go ahead anyway,” The Telegraph quoted Manjot as saying.

“My strong belief in humanity is motivating me, and you can see the communal harmony my decision is creating…. Had my family supported me, it would have made me very happy,” she added.

Manoj said that as an adult she has a right to take a decision and no law bars her to donate her organ. The duo, Manjot and Samreena are friends from last four years, the duo had met each other in an event first and since then they are in touch with each other “The moment I got to know (from someone else about Samreen’s need for a kidney), I verified whether she was my (friend) Samreen. I called her and said, ‘I’m coming to do it’. I told her I needed nothing from her and that I was doing it for her,” Manjot told The Telegraph.

The doctors at SKIMS Soura hospital have delayed the surgery as they were waiting for the consent of Manjot’s family. Samreen, who undergoes regular dialysis at the hospital, has thanked Manjot for the much-needed help on time.